In the late Middle Ages, the word acquired a specialized sense referring to vernacular Germanic languages on the continent, specifically, Dutch, German, and Low German, which were not strongly distinguished from each other at the time, as opposed to the Latin of the scholarly elite and the Church. Because of the Holy Roman Empire's preeminence, the word narrowed in meaning to refer solely to German in most languages, with EnglishDutch, and archaic DutchDiets(“Middle Dutch”) being notable exceptions.